Wiki post op hypergylcemia in diabetic patients

[ckstein]

Help, does anyone know the correct way to code this? We have been using 790.29 alone, but it doesn't seem to tell the whole story to me. Anybody out there good at endocrinology?
thanks
Casey CPC

 

[junebug1969]

I've thought about this and researched this for a couple of days, and I'm pretty sure that you shouldn't be coding for post-op hyperglycemia at all.

You are excluded from using 790.29 for diabetic patients. In addition, hyperglycemia is considered a part of the disease process of diabetes and is not normally coded. (Just like polyuria or polydipsia would not be coded for diabetic patients.)

However, if the hyperglycemia results in another manifestation such as ketonuria or ketoacidosis you could code for those conditions. If the hyperglycemia is more than transient, I would bet that the patient is spilling ketones. That may be a better code assignment to submit.